John P. Holcomb, Jr., Ph.D. Professor and Associate Dean of Curriculum and Facilities College of Sciences and Health Professions

"In a world full of uncertainty, isn't it nice to know a statistician?"

Affiliations:

Assessment Resource Tools for Improving Statistical Thinking (ARTIST) 

This website is designed to provide instructors of Introductory Statistics resources for assessing student learning. The assessment builder contains hundreds of questions to assess student statistical literacy, thinking, and reasoning. These items are downloadable in the form of a .rtf file so that instructors can make modifications and incorporate them easily into their own assessments. The site also contains resources on alternate forms of assessment such as projects. The ARTIST team is also developing a multiple choice test to be used as a research tool for instructors interested in measuring student understanding in introductory statistics.

This website is designed to provide a plethora of resources for Undergraduate Education in Statistics. Some highlightes include searchable databases on learning modules, laboratories, lectures, syllabi, etc. Coming soon will be peer-reviewed teaching materials. The webiste also contains a searchable database of abstracts on research in Statistics Education and dissertations in statistics education. With recent funding from the National Science Foundatino, CAUSE will be sponsoring a series of workshops on teaching statistics in the future.

Project NeXT

New Experiences in Teaching is a program sponsored by the Exxon Corporation and the Mathematical Association of America for new mathematics faculty beginning their careers. At three workshops over the course of a year, participants meet experts in the field of mathematical education who give presentations and provide mentoring for participants. Through this program participants are exposed to current teaching ideas in pre-calculus and calculus reform, collaborative learning, differential equations, elementary statistics, and mathematical requirements for liberal arts students, elementary education teachers, and secondary mathematics teachers. In addition, panel discussion topics include the how to continue research while teaching, how to obtain tenure, what role technology should play in a mathematics classroom. Participants also have an e-mail network where posters can ask questions of all participants and mentors on any topic they seek guidance, resources or general advice on.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has sponsored 40 National Fellows for the 2000-2001 academic year. These college teachers are engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning at the university level in a variety of disciplines that include mathematics, biology, sociology, law, inner-disciplinary, and history. The Foundation sponsors three workshops on the scholarship of teaching and learning in June 2000, Jan. 2001, and June 2001.